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Japanese was so much English in it! :o

Has anyone, American or Japanese, noticed that? It's like how English has a lot of French words in its language but only it's a whole 'nother ball game with Japanese.

I've seen a good amount of anime in both English dub and Japanese, and there are a lot of English words popping up all the time and words that don't actually have to be taken from us. Like the expression "Ladies and Gentlemen" レイヂスアンドじぇンテルメン or "Summer Gifts" サマアギフト are also said just like that in Japanese. And words like "Supermarket" スウパアマアッケト. A lot of Japanese products have full English pronounciation like with "Playstation Srii" プレイステイションスリイ. And I found out from a friend that a lot of their meals at restaurants, etc, have English names too. And also, get this, Japan took the English word for "panda" パンダ and used it for their language rather than taking the word from China. All the names of attacks in JRPGs are English like "Lightning" ライトニング or "Water Blast" ウアタブラスト or "Phoenix Down" フィニックスダウン. It's just crazy how much influence America has had on Japan and yet you hardly ever see it the other way around. It's just an interesting thing I noticed. It definitely came to a surprise to me.

Re: Japanese was so much English in it! :o

Long vowels in katakana are usually marked with the long vowel dash "ー", so "super" would be spelled "スーパー" not "スウパア".

The /ti/ and /di/ sounds in Japanese are represented as "ティ" and "ディ" respectively. ("ヂ" would be pronounced as "ji", and it is rarely used anyway.) The word "ladies" in katakana would be "レディーズ".

Now that's out of the way, I'll comment a little on your observation lol. Languages are fluid and adaptable, so languages will borrow words from each other as long as there's contact between them. Japanese would be one of the more readily adapting languages when it comes to borrowing words. Other languages, such as French or Chinese, are more resistant to using loanwords; instead, their language councils will often try to create new native words for new terms/concepts.

English definitely had a huge impact on Japanese, but, like you said, it has borrowed copious amounts of words from Latin and French. Often, even when two words are synonymous, they will give different imagery to the audience. The native English word "painful" just doesn't sound the same as "excruciating" (which is of Latin origin), even though the two words carry the same basic meaning.

Similarly, Japanese does have its own non-English way to say things like "phoenix down" or "lightning", but they will give a totally different feel. "ライトニング" sounds like a magic spell from a video game, while "稲妻(いなずま)" is used to refer to the actual lightning you see when it rains. And let's not forget that many of those fantasy games are set in a more Western environment, so it makes more sense and feels more appropriate to use English terms in them.

Re: Japanese was so much English in it! :o

Yeah, my laptop won't let me use dashes for some reason. That's why I went ahead and just put スウパア as I was kind of hoping it would still mean the same. It's kind of weird but my smart phone is better equipped for typing in Japanese than my computer, lol. Thanks for the pointers. Especially the ディ part

I definitely want to say again that I like how Japan uses a lot of foreign English words to fancy up the name of the attack. I actually managed to play my friend's RPG game one time with no trouble bcuz all the attacks were all practically listed in Katakana.

Re: Japanese was so much English in it! :o

Originally Posted by animeyay

but "Nippon" is the Japanese word for "Japan".
it'd be kinda sad if they didn't even have their own word for their own country lol

yeah i know but only usa call it japan it always been spell nippon you go to japan and say nippon they like it better usa just name them japan go there they say nippon cause if you go there say how liveing in japan they know your from usa every country is not name like we think the English give them that name japan russia china that not the real name of there country we just name them that way for the English to understand it easyer i am sorry if my spelling bad lol.

Re: Japanese was so much English in it! :o

Originally Posted by Yuki haruka

yeah i know but only usa call it japan it always been spell nippon you go to japan and say nippon they like it better usa just name them japan go there they say nippon cause if you go there say how liveing in japan they know your from usa every country is not name like we think the English give them that name japan russia china that not the real name of there country we just name them that way for the English to understand it easyer i am sorry if my spelling bad lol.

There's history to that~ The Portuguese traders first came up with the name "Japão" when they heard about Japan from the Malay and the Chinese. They brought the name back to Europe, and then that name spread. The Spanish called it "Japón", the French called it "Japon", and the Germans called it "Japan". The English first named it "Giapan" (where "gia" was pronounced as "ja") but then switched to "Japan" later. The Italians followed the English way and still call it "Giappone" even today.

So I don't think you should single out the US for butchering the name ;D Not many countries (if any, except Japan itself,) call Japan "Nippon" lol

Re: Japanese was so much English in it! :o

Adding to what @animeyay has said, the Portuguese have also added many words to the Japanese language also. パン (pan) comes from the Portuguese word pão (bread), ボタン (botan) comes from botão (button), テンプラ (tenpura/tempura) comes from tempero (spice). Though, despite common belief, ありがとう (arigatou) does not come from the Portuguese word obrigado (thank you), it comes from the word 有難し (arigatashi), literally meaning "difficult to exist"; which originally meant something very rare that was hard to obtain, but then become to express appreciation for something that was rare or hard to get. Sorry if I rambled a bit there, thought you may enjoy the extra info